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Everyday Eddie
The most puzzling and irksome trait of Molitor's first couple months on the job has been an inexplicable commitment to getting Eduardo Escobar into the lineup as often as possible. It'd be one thing if that meant starting him at shortstop, where offensive expectations are lowered and Danny Santana has been horrible, but only seven of Escobar's starts have come there.
Instead, Molitor has constantly plugged Escobar in at offense-driven positions; namely left field (20 times) and designated hitter (six times). His performance at the plate has been rather miserable: .228/.250/.345 with 38 strikeouts and three walks in 153 plate appearances. That kind of production could only be viewed as adequate from a utility man who plays sparingly, and that's the role Escobar should be filling.
Yet Molitor evidently has a perception of the 26-year-old as a quality hitter. Whether that stems from Escobar's career year in 2014 or his nice spring, I don't know, but at some point the rookie skipper needs to come to terms with what has been obvious throughout the majority of Escobar's career and certainly over these first two months: he has a weak bat.
Gad Zukes
Depending on who you're talking to, viewpoints on proper lineup construction can vary, but almost everyone would agree that the fifth spot in the lineup ought to be reserved for a power bat. Place quality hitters in the top four spots and follow up with a slugger that can drive them in. Kennys Vargas, who opened the season as Minnesota's No. 5 hitter, was just that. Kurt Suzuki, who has filled that spot 15 times since the start of May, is quite the opposite.
Early in his career, Suzuki did show a little pop, reaching double digits in homers each year from 2009 through 2011. Since then, though, he has totaled 16 homers in 384 games with a .347 slugging percentage. This year, it's at .324.
Obviously there aren't a lot of great alternative options at this point, but Suzuki belongs nowhere near the middle of the lineup on a competing team.
The Wrong Guys
So, about those alternative options... It's true that Molitor doesn't have a whole lot to work with when trying to assemble lineups at this point, but the club's personnel decisions have handcuffed him to some degree, and while he's not the one directly making those calls, there's no doubt he has plenty of influence.
Vargas, who could easily be filling that fifth spot instead of Suzuki and that DH role instead of Escobar and Eduardo Nunez, was sent down in mid-May even though he was hitting .366 on the month, and he's been left in Triple-A even though he's hitting .349 with a 1045 OPS there since being demoted.
Apparently the Twins want Vargas to work on his pitch recognition, and that would be all well and good under past circumstances, but this team is actually in a race. He's blatantly a better hitter than most guys on the major league roster.
Between the Vargas situation, leaving Aaron Hicks in the minors for six weeks, keeping Josmil Pinto buried, and now sending Oswaldo Arcia to Triple-A off the DL (though that move is more defensible), there's an ongoing trend of eschewing plainly more capable youngsters for veteran mediocrity. I've gotta say, I didn't expect that from Molitor, a guy who's spent the last decade working with Twins minor leaguers.
The Elephant in the Room
It's an uncomfortable subject to broach, especially for someone who has spent many years defending the guy against unfair critiques, but... at what point does Joe Mauer slide down in the lineup?
Blasting Mauer for his lack of power was rather ludicrous when he was winning batting titles and getting on base 40 percent of the time -- particularly when he was doing so at catcher -- but these days Mauer is simply a bad hitter. His power has gone from limited to essentially non-existent. Only nine qualified major leaguers have fewer home runs than Mauer's five since the start of last year, and they all play much more valuable defensive positions.
Mauer ranks 21st out of 22 MLB first basemen in OPS. He never homers and is barely a threat to hit a double. His once elite plate discipline no longer stands out. His production with runners in scoring position is the only thing that has kept him from being a complete liability to the lineup, but it's hard to imagine that disparity sustaining.
Removing Mauer from his customary station in the three-hole might be the hardest and most uncomfortable adjustment that Molitor needs to make, but it will be necessitated if things continue as they are.
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